Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-11-11
n. p. Indemnity Lands.
He POSITION OF n. p. RAILROAD COM
PANY EXPLAINED.

W. T.
DEAR SIR:-It was only last night
that l became aware of the instruc-
tions issued September 10th by the
Acting Commissioner of the general land
office, directed by the Secretary of the
Interior, to the Register and Receiver
at Walla Walla. They were pub
lished in some of our local papers on
September 3Oth, but l did not happen
to see them. Naturally they make
me very anxious, and your company,
l suppose, must be greatly annoyed
by them. Demagogism is playing the
deuce generally. You are aware, of
course, that l purchased two years
ago from your company on the ten
years plan, the Sc and sw I of section
30, township Is north, range 43 cast,
W. NJ, in Whitman county. Now
unless your selection of said lands has
been formally and expressly approved
| by the Commissioner of the General
Land Office, etc, l suppose the de-
partment proposes to sell the lands,
i. e., to receive applications for filing,
&C., from anybody. Your company
has treated me well and generously in
all respects and therefore desire to
carry out my contract honorably. TO
try to escape it would be mean and
| dishonest. Therefore all l want is q
certainty that your company's selec-
ton of said lands has been formally
approved by the proper authority. 1
have no knowledge of what has been
done in the case and must ask you to
inform ME fully. If not yet approved
it may be hereafter, or this order of
the Secretary may be set aside and
annulled by judicial authority. If
not yet approved 1 suppose ought to
make application to file on each quar-
ter section, stating all the facts so far
as l may know them. Your company
would then be notified and could
make objections and assert its rights.
l, of course, should make no contest,
but leaving the question to your COM
pany and the department and
partment would cheerfully accept the
result, though 1 should much prefer
to see you win, as think that justice
and legality are both entirely on your
side. As to the quarter section l live
on, the southeast quarter of section
q, township Is, N. R. 43 east, having
resided on and cultivated it since the
summer Of 1882, 1 trust that the COM
pany will not object to my making a
homestead entry. l am sorry to
trouble you so much, but please be SO
good as to answer me promptly. Your
answer will be immensely important
to me and 1 suppose that many others
are situated very much as l am.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) B. LEWIS.
OCTOBER Is, 1887.
Hon. Barbour Lewis, Ewartsville, ". T.
DEAR SIR.-Your letter of the .8th
inst. in reference to the order of the
Secretary of the Interior throwing
open the indemnity lands of the North
ern Pacific Railroad Company to en-
try and filing, is sample of great
many letters received Mt this office
since the publication of the Secretary's
decision. AS in your own case, this
attempt Of the Department of the In
terror to nullify acts of Congress and
override decisions of the courts and
former administrations, will, in hun
dreds of other cases in this Territory,
work great hardships upon settlers
and involve them in tedious and cost
ly litigation. As matter of course,
the company in the defense of its
rights, will do all in its power to allie
viate the wrongs to which the Secre-
tary of the Interior has exposed the
purchasers of indemnify lands. The
process of law, however is slow, and
considerable time will elapse before
judicial decisions can be had. Mean
while yourself and many other settlers
will be exposed to the attacks of land
jumpers and black-mailing land law
yers.
1t would be useless for you to at
tempt to file on the south of section
35, township Is rorth, range 43 east,
and at the same time claim, under the
homestead act, the southeast 1 of Sec
ton 27, township Is north, range 43
east. You cannot hold TO exceed 160
acres under the present land laws.
The land improved by you in excess
of 16O acres can be filed on, under the
order of the Secretary of the Interior,
by the first party that chooses to do
so. This is one of the BLESSINGS" of
the order OF the Secretary.
The selections of the indemnity
lands by the company have been
made in strict conformity with the
directions of the Secretary of the In
terror as provided in the granting act.
They have been properly certified to
by the Registers and Receivers of the
respective United States Land Offices
and they have been forwarded a num-
Der of years ago to the general land
Office at Washington for proper ac-